Surrendering (Surrender 1)
“Sure, a movie night and dinner.”
“Don’t you have plans for Friday night?”
“Depends on what you say.”
“Depends on what I say?”
“Yes, Raven, what do you say? Do you want to have dinner and watch a movie with me?”
I’m sweating. I start to fidget with my shirt, trying to figure out how to proceed. He is by far the hottest guy I’ve ever been around in my life. “Your sisters aren’t here.”
“I know and that is exactly why I am.”
“Oh, okay, well come in.”
He steps in and goes straight back to the kitchen. I watch him unload the bag which was filled with a casserole dish, a six-pack of beer, and some sort of pie. I should probably offer to help.
“Can I help you with anything?”
“Nope, I actually made dinner at my house and all we have to do is heat it up. I hope you like enchiladas. I even brought dessert.”
“You cooked for me? Was I a predictable conclusion? What if I hadn’t been home?” I was babbling again.
“Raven, are you nervous?”
“I guess I’m trying to figure out why you’re here on a Friday night with me.”
“Why am I here? Why wouldn’t I be here? What’s wrong with wanting to spend some time with you?”
“I’m not trying to sound rude, but I assumed you’d be out with friends or on a date or something. I know you must have other things that are more fun than watching a PLL marathon with your sister’s new roommate. And since you knew they weren’t here, I will also assume you knew we would be alone. You have sort of a reputation and dinner and a movie doesn’t exactly sound like your MO.”
He looked at me. “For starters, I don’t date.”
“I kind of got that impression.”
“FUCK! Did my sister’s say something to you?”
“Well, we may have had a small discussion about you. Apparently, a morning jog led the way to a Ravenel Hayes / Declan Collins intervention. I didn’t know two people exercising could turn into something so concerning.”
“Yeah, that fucking jog bought me a lecture too. Not big on my sisters getting into my business, but I may have deserved it.”
He moves to the oven to start dinner and then opens a beer.
I perch myself against the counter opposite of Declan with my wine and watch as he finishes making dinner. I seriously want to walk right up and slide my hands over him. The way he moves is sexy as hell and the lip piercing is driving me wild. More than once he’s turned around and caught me ogling him. Each time he grins.
“Makes me a little self-conscious with you staring at me.”
Dammit! “I was just thinking about your lip piercing. I didn’t know you had it. I didn’t know you had any piercings actually.”
“I have a few. Once in a while I get a wild hair and decide to do something different. Sometimes it’s tattoos, sometimes piercings, it’s really whatever I feel like at the time.”
My eyes graze over his body with my imagination going wild. His chuckle snaps me out of my daze.
“You asked why I’m here. Especially knowing we’d be alone. I planned it on purpose after Ella and Abbi told me they were going to our dad’s.”
“Not to sound like a bitch, but why?”
He shrugs. “I want to get to know you better. Is that a problem?”